


Failure

by tstansetis



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Implied Underage, This was mostly me grieving over Damian, really sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tstansetis/pseuds/tstansetis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'd failed them both, and he wanted to make it right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Failure

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly me grieving over Damian right after he died. It's unedited, my apologies for any typos

“How COULD you!?”

She’s silent.

“You heartless Bitch!”

A sharp sting on my cheek, another stab of pain on my already aching body. Blood trickles from my mouth, down my chin and on to the marble floor.

Drip. Drip.

“He TRUSTED YOU!”

“He was foolish to trust anyone.”

My face burns with rage, boiling and bubbling and churning in my gut, threatening to explode.

I let it.

“You’re his MOTHER!”

“He made his choice.”

I grind my teeth, nose twitching, blood rushing in my ears.

“He loved you!”

“Then he was more foolish than I thought.”

Something in me snaps. I can no longer feel the pain in my limbs and face as I lunge at the woman in front of me, my eyes blazing and heart pounding.

The only ache I feel is in my heart. Slowly swallowing every other feeling, throwing me into a pit of despair and self-loathing.

He was so young, I keep thinking, So young. Much too young to die.

I think back on all the things that Damian and I had done together, every success and every failure, as I let myself loose on Talia, my knuckles smashing against her face. I feel the cartilage in her nose shatter under my hands, feel her blood rush over my fingers.

And as her guards rush forward at her shrieks of pain, as they wrestle me to the ground, the only thoughts in my mind are that Lil D will never grow up. He’ll never learn to shave, never have his first girlfriend, never go to prom or finish high school. We’ll never get to build another snow fort together, have another snowball fight with Jason and Tim, never laugh when Alfred’s face goes white as a sheet at us tracking snow into his foyer. We’ll never get to see that stupid zombie movie he was so excited about. He’ll never stay at my apartment when he and Bruce get into another spat. He’ll never be here again.

And all I can do is scream.

I scream until my throat is raw, thrashing against Talia’s guards with renewed vengeance, out for more than breaking her nose this time.

“You’re foolish as well, Grayson,” her voice is a dull echo in my ears, “You and your entire little ‘family.’ Driven by emotion, letting yourselves feel pain and sadness – that is what weakened the boy in the first place. That is why he died.”

I clench my teeth and glare up at her, meeting her eyes as I spit blood onto her cheek.

“You’re just as stupid,” I snarl, “telling yourself that you don’t do the same thing.”

Her eyes flash and I see the gleam of metal out of the corner of my eye, much too late, too slow to react-

The air is forced out of my lungs in a painful jab, something warm and wet and sticky dripping down the front of my suit. My chest feels tight and cold, vision going black around the edges. I open my mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a large bubble of copper-flavored goop that drips down past my lips and over my chin.

Drip. Drip.

My cheek is pressed against the tile floor, and I briefly wonder, with a groan of pain, if this is what Damian felt when he died.

Bruce needs me. Damian needed me.

And I realize I’ve failed them both.


End file.
